The North Awakens

There is a tale. One of great sorrow, yet understanding. This tale dates back a long time, and envelops all worlds brought together. As every tale, it is based off of truth. The legend has become twisted and turned and not what it used to be, over the time that it was told, as happens to most legends and myths. But the core of the story still remains the same, even though heroics and people are changed each time it's told.

10.000 years ago, before the reign of C.C., before the wars around the 4 worlds, before the Monster World was discovered, there was a race of creatures originating from the Demon World, only known as the Watchers. These creatures were strong, powerful in magic and immensely intelligent. They took to the icy region in the north of the Human world, where they brought 3 creatures. 1 from each other world. A Demon, Lissandra, a Phoenix, Serylda and an Angel, Avarosa. These 3 were transformed into what was called an Iceborn. Natural immortality, immensely powerful and gifted the power of Ice, these three were responsible for the creation of an entire civilization. And this happened. Over the years, a vast empire was build on the ice. First the castle in which the three sisters lived, then the bridge and eventually the massive city on the plains across the canyon. The Watchers lived in the castle with the sisters as well, supervising and enjoying the hospitality. Serylda was responsible for crops, food, water and the sort. Avarosa led the city life and ran all the affairs inside the empire. Lissandra was responsible for the guard and army.

But every empire falls in time. So did this empire of the Watchers. Avarosa and Serylda saw the suffering in the empire. The Watchers were exploiting them for their own gain, using humans as slaves, letting them fight, stirring up conflicts to see how they'd be resolved or to even see the reaction time of them Iceborn. They discussed this with Lissandra, but she refused to listen to them, claiming this was how nature works. It took them 200 years to finally put a plan into motion to rid them of the Watchers, but when they laid down the idea to Lissandra, the latter betrayed them by warning the Watchers. What occurred after was a bloody conflict. The unorganized resistance was no match for Lissandra's well trained soldiers, but with the help of Serylda and Avarosa, they prevailed over the forces. As a last measure, Lissandra froze the entire city under a thick layer of ice, entombing all people, both the resistance, her own soldiers, and the civilians.

With the war having ceased in an instant, only three remained able to fight. Lissandra fought Avarosa on her own. Avarosa was no match for the more powerful Demon, but knew her task. She was only to delay her so that Serylda could perform her task. Serylda, the most gentle of the three, went back into the castle and sought the Watchers. They, having become lazy and weak over the years, stood no chance against the strong willed phoenix. Serylda used all her power to collapse the throne room and crush both herself and the Watchers, the tower in which they were crumbling and toppling over into the canyon, the Watchers howling as they fell. Hence the name, Howling Abyss. In rage of being outsmarted, Lissandra utterly destroyed Avarosa, annihilating her body entirely. The only drawback of using her power to that extend was that it drew most of the life force out of her. Weakened and barely able to do anything, she practically crawled back to the castle. There, in the hall of the Iceborn, she used what power she had left to entomb herself in an icy prison, to preserve herself and wait.

Almost 10.000 years later, the present now. The story has vanished over time, no northern tribes still live to tell the tale. Only some of Arakai's oldest books mention the empire in the north. A cold wind blew through the hallway. The crying of the wind that went through the Abyss hallowed through the whole castle like it always does. The ancient ruins were well preserved considering their age, banners still hanging on the walls, snow filling almost every gap the wind created. And in the center of the hall, the still unchanging pillar of ice, ending in a V above. A minor shard of ice broke off from the pillar and fell into the snow. The shard looked different, its color being more pure than that of the ice and snow around the whole fortress. The wind stopped and for the first time, the Abyss was holding its breath, silently awaiting what was to come. Never in the past 10.000 years, had it been this silent. And never again would it be.